Pontville Rally

Saturday the 11th of March and four of the “Devil Wheelers” are meeting at 10.00am just down the road to all head in a convoy so we can all be sited together. Rally secretary  Col Coleman went above and beyond to help us out.

Col Coleman getting into the pink and purple theme very early

As long as a couple of us with motorhomes didn’t mind being situated off the main site with the big rigs it would be no problem or so we thought. Volunteers have problems with parking up 5th wheelers and caravans (motorhomes are so much easier), they don’t realise we have to unhook and move forward to be able to walk between and then there are slideouts. We finally got setup once the volunteers had left.

Check out the motorhome in the background with a popup bedroom above the cab and self tracking solar panels

Setting up the “Devil Wheelers” outdoor banner

A welcome for 1st time rally attendants in the main marquee at 3.00pm and all formalities were dealt with and we were made most welcome.

Sunday day 2 and big rigs and 5th wheelers and motorhomes towing small cars rolled in. Walking around the outer areas and seeing some of the setups that grey nomads are travelling around Australia, is as good as visiting the best tourist destination. 10.00am is morning tea every day. Activities for the day are highlighted. Just deciding what to do in what order is a big decision, there is plenty to do.

Monday day 3 and today is the first official day of the Rally and all the motorhomes are arriving. Military precision in parking all these rigs. It does seem easy when they are all of similar size. Today is the first official day and walking around all the trade exhibits and food outlets, registering for activities for the rest of the week, seeing what is on offer kept us busy most of the day.

7.00pm and we are in the main marquee for tonights big act, Bodane Hatten, a magician and comedian. Very entertaining with lots of illusion and funny gags.

Tuesday day 4, activities to keep us occupied, the trade tents are full to overflowing, food stalls everywhere. Information overload, plenty to do, bring on happy hour at 4.00pm, grab a drink and find a group playing music, two or three small groups located centrally to everyone most nights.

Bring an instrument and join in or just sit back and enjoy

Wednesday day 5 begins with an early morning walk (most mornings, not just today) with Garry at 7.00am for an hour, finished with an egg and bacon roll in the footy clubrooms for the poets breakfast. A heritage machinery display was setup just for today. Just walking around the grounds, talking to fellow campers and seeing all the different ways people go camping and the time just flies.

Dianne wants an electric bike, she doesn’t like pedalling uphills

Always have time to check out an Iveco setup looking for ideas.

Lit up like a Christmas Tree, luckily about 10.00pm it was lights out for most of the lights so we could all sleep

So many photos, trying to remember which order things happened, getting most of our memories down before we forget, a few edits may be in order at a later date, please be patient. Part 2 of the rally in a seperate post coming soon.

York Town Watermill Cottage Campsite

Summer has finally arrived and any chance to get away in the 5th wheeler is high on the agenda. Keeping up with my blog is getting harder and harder. Its either going to work or going camping. There is not much spare time.

York Town has a relatively new low cost campsite, so we had to check it out. What a fabulous place, 4 acres of well mown grass, a small lake, plenty of low trees and shrubs for windbreaks, lots of space to lay back and relax without intruding on fellow campers.

Four vans met up for some relaxation, the weather was perfect, the setting was ideal with a communal fire ring , a shelter for when the weather was less than perfect.

Peron Farm Campground

Low cost campgrounds seem to be a growth area in campgrounds and caravan parks. Peron Farm is one such campground still in its infancy. It has a very flat area still being developed , give it 12 months and it will be a great place to spend a few days. A fabulous camp kitchen made out of a shipping container with plenty of shelter if the wind gets up.

Greens Beach, Narawntapu Lookout

A great view of the coast after a short walk to the Greens Beach, Narawntapu lookout was only a short drive from Greens Beach.

Cicadas were making an amazing noise for such a small insect. There must have been thousands of them. You couldn’t see them without searching for them but they certainly made a racket. Apparantly it was mating season

You had to look to spot a cicida as they blended in to their surroundings very well

Gathering around the firepot with fellow vanners is always good. It just caps off a great day and a warm fire is a fantastic place to meet others.

A good fire just brings strangers together

Veronica just had to try the stocks out. Her lovely son in law, Nick thought it would be fun to stick a twig through the latch. Hubby Peter also had to get in on the act, daughter Petrina had the camera ready, I couldn’t help but put the picture on my blog. Good thing Veronica has a sense of humour.

 

 

Pioneer Park Riana

Pioneer Park, Riana was were the Devils Wheelers – Tasmania chose for their getaway for our November 11th-12th 2016 weekend away.

I only live 15km down the road in Penguin. Working night shift on the nights before I decided to set the van up on the Thursday afternoon before work.

Friday morning I was already set up, no need to rush about still half asleep. I had a sight with good sun for the solar panels. The weather was perfect and everyone was soon setup.

Happy hour out in the sunshine today, not that lucky on Saturday

Lots of catching up, we also welcomed some new vanners who joined us for the weekend for the first time. Of course we had a couple of games of disc bowls, a great way to get new visitors to feel at home.

Saturday arrived and the clouds looked threatening, but the rain stayed away until after 3.00pm. Three of us blokes just had to check out a nearby logging coupe and check out all the modern gear that is involved in harvesting Tassie’s renewable resource. If you come to Tasmania, you will see plenty of logging activity, but don’t despair there is more than enough wilderness to keep you amused.

Big boys toys here and not a Greenie in site

It is always interesting to see upgrades to other peoples vans. Airbags added under a 5th wheeler to improve a vans stability on the road was a new one for me. It appears to have merit. The owner is very happy with the result saying that the contents of his van stay where they are left, not bounced around inside the van.

Four airbags fitted to assist each spring to help with stability, not carry extra load.

One thing about camping close to home is that the grandkids get a chance to visit.

While the boat has seen better days, it does keep the grandkids amused for a while.

Rain was coming and we set the firepot close to the shelter, close enough to keep us warm. Far enough away as to not burn the shelter down. A couple of small gas heaters also helped after dark.

Gary Thwaites made the effort to bring a large barbeque that was big enough to feed us all and as the rain began to fall, we all moved under cover for happy hour and a top cook up. We were a little cramped for space, however we all stayed dry and warm.

A little fun was had with a couple of halloween masks. We also discovered how much fun can be had with a small squeeze box and a kazoo (a small whistle). It doesn’t take much to amuse us big kids and we had a lot of fun despite the rain falling constantly outside.

Rain was still falling Sunday morning. Some packed up early and headed off. Those who waited to later on didn’t get wet as the weather cleared up, with just a couple of light showers. Another great weekend away, lets hope the weather improves for the next weekend away in three weeks time.

A link to the Devil Wheelers Blog  is below

https://devilwheelerstasmania.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/pioneer-park-riana/

 

Rough Crossing on the Spirit

Footage of the Spirit of Tasmania battling strong waves after leaving Melbourne

The two and a half minute clip was posted to video-sharing website Vimeo and shows the ship passing Point Lonsdale on Saturday.

Its not my video and I wasn’t on the sailing, but I thought it was worth sharing. Seas like this are something users of the Spirits hope they can avoid when they are crossing between Melbourne Victoria and Devonport Tasmania

Grafton and Kempsey

We are just ambling down th New Soth Wales coastline. Grafton is a stop for one night for no particular reason other than that we only had to drive 167km. We set up in the Grafton Showground, plenty of room, toilets and showers leave a bit to be desired. It is very close to the town centre.

Grafton Bridge

A lot of Grey Nomads fear driving across the Grafton Bridge because of a couple of sharp bends, which along with narrow lanes and the bridge railings make for a potentially exciting drive. There is no need to be worried, as you approach the corners you need to move over the white line. The approaching traffic see your intention and and stop and give way, thus allowing you to go further into the other lane and be able to proceed around the corner. A little common sense is needed but in the main you will have no problems.

We drove 198km to Kempsey, which is a little larger than I imagined and setup in the showground camping area. We met up with my parents who drove 700km from Canberra on the way to Brisbane for the weekend to visit my sister, before spending 4 weeks on the Gold Coast. The showground is very close to everything and the toilets and showers are a little better than a lot of facilities in other showgrounds.

My parents arrived at around 4.30pm and quickly settled in to a motel room that Dianne and I had found for them a little earlier. A quick drive to the showground to the showground to see where we were set up and we went to a local pub for a great feed. We said our goodbyes from our short catchup as Mum and Dad were setting off early for a shorter 500km leg to Brisbane.

Trial Bay and South West Rocks

Day 2 in Kempsey was filled in with a drive to Trial Bay and South West Rocks. What a great area and we will be back for a few days on a later trip, guarenteed. On the way in we had a detour into Hat Head for a quick look. With Dianne’s crook knee we just had a quick look but it would be interesting as there looks to be a couple of short walks around the shoreline.

A small beach is surrounded by rocky headlands on both sides, plenty of surf rolling in

We next ventured up to the Smoky Point Lighthouse. . A quick climb for some great views up and down the coastline. Lots of walking tracks here as well, but again we didn’t venture along any of them.

The view north of the lighthouse

The view south of the lighthouse

Next on the agenda was lunch and we hit the jackpot here, what a feed, couldn’t eat it and it was well priced at a little fish and chip shop right on the beach at South West Rocks.

I don’t post pictures of food very often, but this was as a good feed I have had on this trip

Even the loo’s look flash

Lovely caravan park to the right and they have some big rig sites, a small shopping centre just behind the tree line. It would a be a great place to spend a few days. We will be back on a future trip.

Lunch over and we headed to the Trial Bay Gaol. For a S10 entry fee we were treated to a great look at the early penal system and a WW1 internment camp. Although a lot of it was sold for scrap it is still a fabulous spot for a look at our early history.There was a great little caravan park only 500m before the Gaol that looks like a great spot

A cast iron walkway was removed for scrap, such a pity but no doubt not any different from the lower level

No way was I letting Dianne near the lock or I might still be there

We had a great day in the area and we will definately be coming back here one day to fully explore and lay back for a few days. It looks like a great spot.

We had such a good day we didn’t even get to see the Slim Dusty Centre. It is on the road towards Sydney. If all goes well we may see it tommorrow.

Myrtle Park May 6-7

The weather had been abysmal all week, I had taken Friday off work. The van was packed ready for an early start Friday morning. An early start was needed to make the most of my time off. 5.00am out of bed, 6.30am on the road, 8.00am and we were at Agfest 2016 just south of Carrick for Tassie’s premiere agricultural field day. While there was a little rain overnight and a little sloppy underfoot at first, the weather was very kind to us, plenty of sunshine and no wind made for a very pleasant day.

I did get to meet “Macca” from Australia All Over  on  ABC radio on Sunday mornings from 5.30amm to 10.00am. I have spent a lot of time listening to him over the years.

I also got the chance to see Brian Carlton broadcast Tasmania Talks live from Agfest. I must spend too much time listening to the radio while in the truck at work.

Dianne had checked out the craft sheds, we had lunch and off to Myrtle Park for the rest of the weekend.

We were set up by 2.00pm, and soon after 5 of us were set up for the night. Myrtle Park has a fantastic camp kitchen and we all made use of it for our tea after we had taken over the gazebo by blocking off one entrance with an old tarp and Gary Thwaites had set up the firepot to keep us warm.

Check out the knitted beanies

More Beanies

We even had a visit from the local friendly possum, not frightened by us at all. He came into the gazebo right under Dianne’s chair. Its a good thing she didn’t see him while he was under her chair.

Saturday morning was started with a walk around the park. Dianne’s Fitbit indicated that we had walked 2.6km, just shows how big an area Myrtle Park covers.

Lots of very mature deciduous trees made for a picturesque setting, as long as you weren’t the one who had to rake them all up. Val and a couple of others tried their hands at skipping rocks. Val did not know she was be going to be on video.

One van headed home and two more came to join us. Geoff and Cathy Pullen from NSW have joined us for the 2nd time. They are on the road fulltime and have been in Tasmania for most of the Summer.

We even had two new members of the Devil Wheelers – Tasmania join us. Nick and Petrina Goss were on their shake down trip with their new van.

After a casserole evening meal and another night around the campfire, we all settled down for the night as most of us were heading home reasonably early as Sunday was Mothers Day. The weather was meant to crack up late on Sunday afternoon. It did and most of us were all unpacked before it rained.